Another Foley

I'm afraid Alice is going to have to take back seat for a while until I figure out my newest and latest DNA match who also happens to be a Foley!

After months of hoping, wishing and praying of getting a "Foley" match to my DNA, my prayers have been answered.

Last week a barrister from Dublin, Ireland wrote me whose surname is Foley. He had requested to share genomes (a genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information) at 23andMe (a genetic testing company...23andMe). We didn't show a match.

He suggested I join the Leinster project at Ancestor-Projects. I have small matches with 14 out of 16 people on that project. Then I went to Gedmatch (GEDmatch provides tools for making comparisons between genealogies and DNA test results) . He also was tested at FTDNA (FamilyTree DNA, also a genetic testing company...Family Tree DNA) and our FTDNA results do show a match. Somewhat small but with an MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) of 6.7....meaning we may share maybe a common  4th or 5th great grandparent.

I'm currently analyzing common matches with him and some others that we both match....and there are quite a few.

This opens up some other options in that it gives me additional surnames....Cahill, Farrell, Callen, Carr and Neill. It also shows me where my Foley ancestors may have been originally from....County Kildare, Ireland.
Here are the match results:

Comparing FTDNA kit F20XXXX and F15XXXX results (MRCA 6.7 generations):
Chr  Start  End cMs SNPs
5 164.8 166.8 3.4 569
7 88.7 92.5 3.2 756
14 22.3 23.9 5.0 583
16 12.1 13.5 4.2 563
17 53.3 56.8 3.1 570

Total cMs 18.9 Longest 5.0
Total SNPs 3041

Comparing his other FTDNA kit 15XXXX with my FTDNA F20XXXX (MRCA 7.0):

Chr  Start  End cMs SNPs
9 21.9 25.7 5.0 368
10 55.4 60.6 3.8 327
11 42.4 58.1 5.3 418
11 85.1 91.3 3.7 391
14 22.3 25.6 7.6 351

Total cMs 20.4 Longest 7.6
Total SNPs 1855

Acronyms used and their definitions:
Chr = Chromosome - a structure in the nucleus containing a linear thread of DNA which transmits genetic information.

cMs = centimorgans - a unit of chromosome length where a spacing of one centimorgan indicates a one per cent chance that two genes will be separated by crossing over. Crossing over is a genetic operator that varies a chromosome's programming between generations.

SNPs = Single Nucleotide Polymorphism; a variation in the genetic code at a specific point on the DNA.

Start and End = where exactly on the Chromosome the match begins and ends.



I suppose that this is all Greek to most people....and it was to me at first.

Enough to say that there are lots of folks who are skeptical of these shorter matches. They say it could just be a false positive. However, many have proved it on paper enough times to think they are real.

Now, my question to all the experts out there. Based on the DNA comparison.....am I really related to him?

For the time being, until somebody tells me I'm wasting my time, I will continue to look for our common matches and hopefully discover someone with a well documented family tree and see if I can slip myself into it!



Posted November 22, 2011

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!!